If you need to process a week 53, your employee may receive HMRC form P800 to notify them of an underpayment of tax.

The P800 is sent from to the employee from HMRC.

Read the HMRC article Payroll: annual reporting and tasks (opens in new tab).

Week 53 can happen if you pay your employees weekly, 2-weekly or 4-weekly.

It’s normal for employees paid in week 53 in the previous tax year to have underpaid tax. This is because for each tax code there is a set amount of free pay per year.

For weekly paid employees:

• Free pay allowance calculates by dividing their yearly free pay by 52

For 2-weekly employees:

• Free pay allowance calculates by dividing their yearly free pay by 26

For 4-weekly employees:

• Free pay allowance calculates by dividing their free pay by 13

Employees receive this amount of tax-free pay every week.

In Summary

If you pay an employee an extra pay period in a tax year, week 53 calculates using an extra weekly free pay allowance. This means the employee receives too much free pay.

This is normal.

• Payroll follows HMRC rules to calculate the correct week 53 tax.

What do I need to do about it

As the employer, you do not need to take any further action.

You may receive a notification at some point in the future from HMRC to change your employee tax code.

Your employee should follow the instructions within the letter to decide how to pay the outstanding tax to HMRC.

Visit the HMRC site and read Tax overpayments and underpayments (opens in new tab).

Do you have a week 53 this year?

• Read our guide Week 53 (open in new tab)